Team Rubicon Trains Veterans for High-Tech Disaster Response

By
S.C. Stuart9 Nov 2018, noon

Ahead of Veterans Day this weekend, we talk to William Porter, operations manager for Team Rubicon, about how retired military personnel are using their talents to help after disasters like earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, and more.

William Porter enlisted in the Air Force straight out of school in South Carolina. Thirteen years later he'd seen service all over the world, including postings in Turkey and Germany, and also as a military policeman and bodyguard. He then made the transition to federal law enforcement for the remainder of his career.

But when that came to an end, he wanted to continue to serve in some way. He worked with the American Red Cross as a government operations liaison, but he missed the camaraderie of life in uniform and behind the badge.

Then, in 2012, he was watching CNN and saw a short piece about Team Rubicon—an organization that pairs veterans with first responders, medical professionals, and technology solutions—in disaster recovery zones. Alongside this laudatory aim, it provided exactly what William Porter was looking for: a purpose, community and identity. He signed up.

Porter is now Operations Manager for Team Rubicon. We spoke to him down the line at the National Operations Center (NOC) in Grand Prairie, Texas, to find out more. Here are edited and condensed excerpts from our conversation.

William, firstly, can you describe your responsibilities at Team Rubicon today?I've been in my current role for two years here, and I plan large scale operations, as well as coach/mentor both our volunteer leaders and remote employees on responding to disasters throughout the United States. I'm also involved in vetting and arranging deployment for our international teams as well as heading up the remote sensing [drones and satellite] capabilities.

So when a disaster hits, in any region of the world, your job is to ensure your teams of former veterans' boots are on the ground, providing help ASAP?That's it, yes. It's a massive coordination exercise, but we get there fast, and we're equipped to help instantly, due to our military and Team Rubicon training.

What was the first disaster you deployed on?I'd just left the federal law enforcement world and saw a blurb on CNN about Team Rubicon responding to tornado recovery after a tornado in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. It talked about how veterans needed a sense of purpose, a way to use their skills for good—and how Team Rubicon gave them a way to do that. I thought, "Man, this is really what I want to do. I am that veteran." So I signed up.

After that, Hurricane Sandy happened and everything just aligned. I deployed out there and was on the ground, helping people in the Rockaways deal with flooding and the destruction of their neighborhood. Then the twister raged through Moore, Oklahoma [in May 2013], and I deployed there for the post-tornado rescue mission. It just snowballed after that. I started putting plans in place, became a contractor, then joined on staff and am now in my current role.

Didn't Palantir embed with Team Rubicon for Hurricane Sandy?Yes, but it's important to note neither Palantir, nor any other company, was in this space at the time. Palantir was the visionary behind digital workflows and team tracking in disaster response. Now companies like ESRI have their own software providing solutions, but in 2012, Palantir leaned forward and took a chance on Team Rubicon. They came and deployed their data analysis software, taking all our paper-based records into a digital imaging platform, so we could record what needed to be done accurately, and via tablet devices, while on the ground.

What other tech do you employ in disaster regions?

We have many partnerships with digital firms—like DigitalGlobe, BAE Systems, Palantir and Woods HoleGroup—because high-quality satellite imagery, mapping, and drones are vital in our work today. We've employed UAVs [drones] for tactical remote sensing operations, especially after the [2014] earthquake in Nepal, using them to look for signs of life and capturing infrared images of survivors at the bottom of the ravine in Langtang Province so we could go down and rescue them.

Right now, we're testing Thorium X rugged tablets because we're often in difficult terrain, with low or no access to standard communications—especially when the grid goes down. We use technology in two ways: we need to get information quickly to our teams to allow them to respond faster and more efficiently than ever. Secondly, we want to be an information node for international rescue efforts; due to our training we're usually on the ground before anyone else.

Because military-trained personnel are used to dealing with hostile environments?Right. We generally keep our wits about us under extreme pressure and most of us have special skills we can deploy. We're also highly independent, used to mission-critical situations. When we deploy into a disaster region, we are completely self-sustained—in international regions up to 14 days [with] food, water, tech, medical supplies—everything.

How did it all get started? What's the backstory for Team Rubicon? On January 10, 2010, when the 7.8-magnitude earthquake devastated Port-au-Prince, many traditional aid organizations were slow to establish relief efforts, due to the highly dangerous and unstable working conditions, so our two founders—both former Marines—Jake Wood and William McNulty, decided to go in. They gathered supplies and a small group of eight veterans, then deployed to Haiti within days of the earthquake striking the region.

Essentially they "crossed the Rubicon"?Right, ever since Ancient Rome, that phrase has denoted a point of no return when Caesar's armies crossed the Rubicon river. Our founders called themselves Team Rubicon as they crossed over Artibonite River, the natural border between the Dominican Republic and Haiti, to show they were a group committing to a risky course of action, and not looking back. That's how it all started.

Eight years on, how many veterans do you have within Team Rubicon today?We have a total force of 80,000 volunteers—75 percent of whom are military veterans.

Is it just US veterans?No, Team Rubicon is global today. Nearly 50 other countries fought alongside the United States in Iraq and Afghanistan in what came to be known as the "Coalition of the Willing." Team Rubicon recognized that veterans from our allied countries also have the desire to continue their service, so we connect coalition veterans in a global network of service, providing resources and support to establish their own Team Rubicons in their region.

Got any robots signed up to Team Rubicon yet? Our organization is leading on technology, and we will continue to find tech innovations to do more with less and get to locations faster. No robots here, as yet, but I'm currently on the panel that is judging the finalists in the US Marine Corps humanitarian robots contest right now. It's still in early stages, they're not looking to deploy these unmanned cargo carriers into disaster zones until 2025. But I've been consulting with them on national response operations and we're looking carefully into this concept.

Finally, what it means to you to be part of Team Rubicon?My story is the same as a lot of folks. After wearing the uniform, it wasn't easy to get a job after or find meaning and purpose. But Team Rubicon unlocked something in me and and showed me I have other skills that are applicable to be of real service in civilian life. Our CEO talks a lot about this. Everyone who served in the military has many, many, skills—in both leadership, and the ability to follow directions in very difficult and dangerous circumstances. That's what we utilize in Team Rubicon. Many of us didn't think we would need those skills again, but when you deploy into a disaster zone and are standing in front of someone who has just lost everything, it really puts your own life in perspective, and you just get on with the task at hand.